Toyota invests in Maas Global; MaaS Global expects West-Midlands, Antwerp and Amsterdam to go live this year

Toyota Financial Services (TFS), together with its insurance partner announced it has made a significant investment in the Finnish company MaaS Global Ltd. MaaS Global Ltd was established in April 2016 to provide multi-modal transportation services.

MaaS Global is a Finnish start-up company. Its business plan brings into reality the concept of Mobility as a Service (MaaS), by building the world’s first mobility ecosystem. MaaS Global aspires to upgrade the service level of transportation by joining together public and private transportation providers. Collaboration and integration of services will create a seamless travel experience for everyone, locally and globally. In addition to Toyota, current investors include Transdev, Karsan Otomotiv Sanayii and Ticaret AS and Veho Oy AB.

Through its ‘Whim’ App, it enables customers to purchase a monthly subscription package that is tailored to their transportation needs (currently this includes public transport, e-hailing and car rental). Whim is already operating in Helsinki with plans this year to expand to three other major cities in Europe and then expand to other cities around the world. The first of these areas to go live this year will be the West-Midlands (Birmingham), followed at the end of the year by Antwerp and the Amsterdam Zuidas business district.

Both Antwerp and Amsterdam face serious mobility challenges: in the Belgian port through extensive road works in the centre, lasting until well into 2018. Amsterdam’s Zuidas business area needs new ideas for its clogged arteries and lack of parking spaces. In both Antwerp and Amsterdam taxi companies will most likely play an important role in the new MaaS-system.

This year MaaS Global launches in Birmingham, Antwerp and Amsterdam.

By Stuart Colley|2017-07-07T15:34:19+00:00July 7th, 2017|News|Comments Off on Toyota invests in Maas Global; MaaS Global expects West-Midlands, Antwerp and Amsterdam to go live this year